Most individuals buy and use a hair shampoo for its cleansing properties. In addition to having clean hair, a consumer also desires sufficiently-conditioned hair that holds a preset configuration. However, hair shampoos generally are formulated with highly effective anionic surfactants that primarily clean as opposed to conditioning in the hair. Anionic surfactants not only remove the dirt and soil from the hair, but also remove sebum naturally present on the surface of the hair fibers. Therefore, the desirable cleansing properties of anionic surfactants also leave the hair in a cosmetically-unsatisfactory condition. Shampoos also do not detangle wet hair and do not impart residual conditioning benefits to dry hair, such as manageability or styleability of hair sets.
In general, shampoo compositions containing anionic surfactants, or nonionic surfactants or amphoteric surfactants, leave hair with an undesirable harsh, dull and dry touch, or feel, usually called "creak", after the hair is shampooed and then rinsed with water. Furthermore, thoroughly cleansed hair also is extremely difficult to comb, in either the wet or the dry state, because the individual hair fibers tend to snarl, kink, and interlock with each other. In addition, incompletely dried hair, such as hair dried with a towel, has poor brushing properties, and after complete drying, the hair does not set well. The combing or brushing property of dry hair remains poor, and the hair has undesirable electrostatic properties in a low humidity atmosphere that causes the hair to "fly away", thereby further reducing the brushing properties of the hair.
The unsatisfactory combing or brushing property of hair immediately after shampooing, or during trimming treatments after shampooing, also causes hair damage, such as split ends or hair breakage. In addition, the natural luster and resiliency of the hair is reduced. The overall unsatisfactory condition of shampooed hair often necessitates a subsequent post-shampoo treatment of the hair with a conditioning composition to improve these undesirable physical characteristics. Conditioning compositions typically are applied separately from the hair shampoo, and usually are rinses, cream-like emulsions or lotions containing a cationic compound.
Therefore, consumer needs traditionally have been met by the application of a shampoo to cleanse the hair, followed by the application of a conditioner composition to improve wet combing. The commonly accepted method has been to shampoo the hair, followed by rinsing the hair, and then separately applying a conditioner composition, followed by a second rinse. The wet combing problem has been solved by treating shampooed hair with a conditioner composition that coats the hair shaft and causes the individual hair shafts in a tress to resist tangling and matting because of the conditioner residue retained on the shaft.
However, the need for improved compositions that condition the hair, i.e., render the hair more manageable, has long been recognized in the art. As previously discussed, it is well-known that anionic surfactants are suitable for hair shampooing, and that cationic compounds, like cationic surfactants and cationic polymers, are useful as hair conditioners. Therefore, cationic compounds that are substantive to hair often are used to complete the hair cleansing and hair conditioning cycle.
The ability of cationic compounds to adsorb to or interact with the keratinous material of the hair makes these compounds desirable for improving wet hair detangling and dry hair manageability. However, cationic compounds that adsorb particularly strongly to the hair also can reduce the elasticity, body and set of the dried hair. Therefore, although conditioning compositions for application to freshly shampooed hair are well known, new and improved conditioning formulations based on cationic compounds are continually sought.
The following is a list of patents in this field.
JP 56169617 A PA1 JP 56169615 A PA1 JP 87008088 B PA1 JP 56169614 A PA1 JP 87008087 B PA1 JP 56169613 A PA1 JP 87008086 B
and U.S. Pat. No. 4,976,956.
The present invention is directed to a new opaque conditioning composition that is esthetically acceptable to consumers, improves the wet combing and dry combing properties of hair, and also leaves the dry hair with satisfactory cosmetic and physical properties, including, in particular, dry combing and feel, less hair coating, manageability, body, condition of the ends and set.